Caution: Flammable
by iProcrastinated
Summary: Takes place during seasons 2-3 in an AU including my OCs. Includes some DannyxValerie and OCxOC. The title probably won't make sense until later chapters. xD
1. Deadbeat Job

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Danny Phantom or any of the characters in it. I just own my OCs, which can easily be identified as the people you probably don't recognize.**

* * *

Natasha's POV

"Hey, Tasha!" Tucker said, running up to the counter of Nasty Burger. "Now that you're on _that_ side of the counter, can I get free food?"

"No, but did you know you can pay in I.O.U.'s?" I replied, sounding semi-irritated and showing five I.O.U. notes.

"You can?" Tucker asked enthusiastically.

"NO!" I exclaimed.

"You're no fun anymore..."

Sam and Danny approached from behind Tucker. Sam grabbed Tucker's arm and said, "Come on," as she dragged him to our usual table. Well, now it's _their_ usual table.

Danny stayed back and leaned on the counter. "So, how's the new job?" he asked me.

"Definitely nothing glamorous," I told him in the same semi-irritated tone. "_Five_ people paid me in I.O.U.'s, and three didn't even leave their name or any form of identifying or contacting them. And one's covered in sweat!" I shook the notes violently as I gestured with my rambling. The sweaty one sent drips of sweat flying.

"You're right, this job isn't glamorous..." Danny told me, then some of the sweat got on him and myself. "Oh, gross!"

"At least you don't know where that one came from, Daniella..."

The expression on Danny's face visibly changed from disgusted to shocked. "Where did it come from?"

I winced. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"That bad?"

I nodded. "Not only that, but so far, I've been asked to clean three clogged up toilets,—by the way, don't use the one that exploded in the men's room; you'll know it when you see it—give a guy a fork and a knife for his burger and fries, and rub Paulina's feet! This job is—"

A guy in a Nasty Burger uniform, who looked a couple years older than me, walked up to me from behind the counter. He was tall and muscular. His layered golden-brown hair was about chin-length at its longest, and his eyes glimmered chartreuse.

"Hey. The name's Trevor... though I'm sure you were staring at me long enough to notice that on my name tag," he said with a smirk. "And you must be Natasha Sullivan. I was told to give you the proper training here, so I guess we'll be seeing each other a lot."

"...The best job ever," I finished telling Danny before motioning him away and shifting my attention to Trevor. I took in a deep breath and tried to gather the right words to say to him. "So, what's the first lesson, 'Master Trevor'?" I asked coolly.

_5 minutes 'til end of shift_

"Dang, Val," I said to my new co-worker, Valerie Gray. "Now I see how hard this job is..."

"Hey, _you_ have it easy, Nat... I had to wear some dumb costume when I started out."

"Oh, right..."

"So, you're friends with Danny Fenton, right?"

"No, he's just my neighbor who I spend a lot of time with," I said sarcastically. "...You like him, don't you?"

"Well, _you_ like Trevor!"

"Shut up, I do _not_!"

"Just like _I _don't like Danny..." Valerie said with a smirk.

"So, why were you asking me about Danny?"

"Uh... no reason!" I folded my arms and shook my head in disbelief. "Fine, I'll admit I like Danny if you admit you like Trevor..."

"You've got this one easy," I told her in a hushed tone. "Danny left with Tucker and Sam an hour ago. Trevor hasn't clocked out yet."


	2. I Thought You Had It

_Meanwhile..._

Danny's POV

I disappeared into an alley and transformed into Danny Phantom. "Hey, ecto-pusses! Shouldn't you be haunting an aquarium?" I said as I grabbed one by the tentacle, swung it around, and threw it at the other two. As it went flying, it squirted green glowing ink in my face. I turned intangible to clean the ink off myself.

"Tasha's not back from work yet?" asked Sam.

"Even if she was, Danny would still be outnumbered," Tucker told her. Sam elbowed him in the chest.

When I was able to get away from the ecto-pusses long enough, I took my phone out and speed-dialed Natasha.

"Pizza Shack, will this be a pick-up or a delivery?" a voice on the other end said.

"I don't have time for this, Tasha," I said. There was a pause of silence. I sighed and replied, "Delivery."

"So, what's it gonna be?"

"Uh... one ghost girl by the name of Tasha Shadow, can you get her to the alley by the movie theater... _soon_?"

"That'll be $5.99, and if your order doesn't arrive within 30 seconds, it's free!"

"30 sec—" It was at that point that she hung up.

A couple of minutes later, Tasha showed up. She eyed the ecto-pusses up and down, then said, "Well, look what washed up..." Her hands glowed indigo as she prepared to blast them "to places not even an astronaut can go" as she'd sometimes say. I prepared my own green ghost ray and we fired them off simultaneously.

As I prepared to suck the ecto-pusses into the Fenton Thermos, I realized... I didn't have it. "Sam, can you hand me the thermos?"

"I don't have it, I thought _you _had it," Sam replied.

"Well I don't!" After a moment of hesitation, I smacked my forehead with my right hand. "Please don't tell me Tucker has it..." I said, recalling the one time we let Tucker handle the thermos.

*FLASHBACK*

"You're supposed to be helping me study for the test tomorrow," I told Sam. Then I focused my attention onto Tasha and Tucker and continued, "And _you two_ are supposed to be helping me catch these ghosts so I have time to study!"

"What? They're all right here," Tucker replied in reassurance. The thermos fell off his finger—which for some reason he decided to spin it on—and landed on its side. The release button was pressed, allowing all the ghosts that Tasha and I _just captured_ to escape.

"Ha ha! I am The Box Ghost!" exclaimed the Box Ghost. "You cannot hold _me_ within the confines of a cylindrical container!" With that, he flew away.

"That's weird," said Tucker. "According to my schedule, you should be done catching ghosts by now."

"Gee, I wonder why he isn't..." Tasha told Tucker in an exasperated tone.

*END FLASHBACK*

"HEY!" exclaimed Tucker. "And I thought Tasha had the thermos."

"Not while Valerie's my co-worker," Tasha replied.

"Well you could have grabbed it on the way over here..."

"I thought you guys had it!"

All four of us groaned. Finally, Tucker pulled out a Fenton Thermos and said "Oh hey, turns out I have it after all..."

I glared, flew over to Tucker, and sucked the three ecto-pusses into the thermos one at a time. I then turned to Tasha and said, "Oh, by the way Tasha, since you took longer than 30 seconds to get here, I _don't_ owe you $5.99!"

Tasha's eyes widened. "Uh, Danny? First of all, I was kidding. And second, I don't think that's the main issue right now..."

"What do you mean?" Tasha grabbed me and spun me around.

I took in the image of the familiar figure now standing in front of us on a hover-board, wearing a slimming red jumpsuit, and holding a gun. She pointed the gun towards Tasha and me, and said "Say goodbye, ghost kids..."


	3. History Lessons

Natasha's POV

"And to think I work with her..." I thought to myself. Valerie fired the gun and I flew right in front of the shot, trying to deflect it. "OW!" I screeched as I clutched my hand and was sent flying... conveniently into a dumpster, before I transformed into my human form. "Dang it, I forgot that doesn't work on non-ghost attacks," I thought. I poked my head out of the dumpster and watched the fight.

_A few days later..._

I was having a casual lunch with Trevor. You could probably just call it a getting-to-know-each-other type of thing.

"You know, I think the reason food costs money is a government conspiracy," Trevor was telling me. "One day, they'll have all our money, and once we finish what we think is all the food in the world, a bunch of drunk politicians will be stuffing their faces with their secret stash that _they_ didn't have to pay for!"

"Drunk politicians?"

"It's true. Back in the day when the constitution was written, water was too contaminated to drink, so everyone consumed alcohol like there was no freaking tomorrow! And for some, there probably wasn't."

"Is that some mumbo gumbo you made up to impress me?"

"Nah, I learned it in history class."

"Since I don't pay attention in history class, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt..."

"So what _do_ you do in history class?"

"Sleep, or every now and again, throw a paper airplane at my teacher and frame the kid next to me."

"Ever get in trouble?"

"Well..."

*FLASHBACK*

I was sitting with Danny and Tucker in Lancer's office after the encounter with that bipolar lunch lady ghost. He'd just read Tucker's records, and then Danny's. I knew I was next...

"Natasha Sullivan. Slingshotting across hallways in mop buckets, falling asleep in class on several occasions, but otherwise you're a good student who maintains a B average." He focused his attention back on all three of us and said, "So...lady and gentlemen, tell me: WHY DID THE THREE OF YOU CONSPIRE TO DESTROY THE SCHOOL CAFETERIA?"

"Dash started it! He threw—" Danny started.

"Four touchdown passes in the last game and is thereby exempt from scorn," continued Lancer. "You three, however, are not."

"Mr. Lancer," I said as I raised my right hand. "I, Natasha Sullivan, solemnly swear I do not start conspiracies, I just call them out. By the way, sir, have you lost weight?"

Lancer smiled and said, "Well, I _have_ been exercising more lat—" He frowned again and continued. "WAIT A MINUTE! Nice try, but I'll map out your punishment when I return."

*END FLASHBACK*

"Nice..." We laughed, but a pale indigo mist escaped my mouth. I looked up to see Danny in ghost form, fighting Technoid... or whatever his name was. "So about this 'Danny' you hang out with—"

"I'll explain after I powder my nose," I said as I ran into the ladies room and transformed into Tasha Shadow.

* * *

**A/N: Yes, I know "Technoid's" actual name is Technus. SHADDUP!**


	4. Revealed Emotions

Danny's POV

"Yo, Technoid!" a familiar voice exclaimed. Tasha then revealed herself as if out of nowhere.

"It's _Technus_!" Technus shouted in his usual booming voice.

After a pause of silence, Tasha said, "...Wait. That's _it_? _That's_ your intro?" She faced me and while mid-air, she shook me violently. "Do you have _any_ idea what this means?"

"What?" I asked her, now agitated and slightly nauseous.

She stopped shaking me, shrugged, and said, "I don't know."

Before we knew it, the fight continued to the point where Technus shoved both of us into the mall where Tucker, Sam, Valerie, and Star were.

"Are you _mad_, children? Picking a fight with me and my upgraded form?"

"You upgraded to a mullet?" I asked as I fired my ghost ray at Technus.

Tasha then added, "Jeez, I don't wanna know where _that_ software came from." As we both attacked Technus, he created a shield out of various electronics. "Now _that_, on the other hand..."

I jumped onto a table and sprung at Technus from it, accidentally spilling a tray of food onto Valerie. Technus fired his ghost ray in Valerie's direction and knocked her over. Enraged, I charged at Technus.

"Emotion, whether you know it or not," he said, "is your greatest weakness." He threw me onto the ground, where I ended up changing back into Danny Fenton. I looked around and noticed Tasha had flown off.

"That is _so_ typical of her," I thought to myself.

"Move it, get outta my way!" Valerie said as she was passing through. She then looked down and noticed me. "Oh hi, didn't expect to see you here." She smiled.

I smiled back and replied, "Didn't expect to be here."

_A few days later..._

I knocked on Natasha's door. "What's the password?" her voice came through the door.

I sighed, but replied, "That depends, did you change it again?"

"Doesn't matter, I suppose," she said with a chuckle. "I mean... just phase yourself in."

"Tasha, can I talk to you about something? It's about Valerie..."

She sighed and said, "Lemme guess, Matchmaker Natasha is back in business?"

"I guess you could say that. Thing is, I like Valerie, and as far as I can tell, she likes me too."

"Technically, I wasn't supposed to say anything unless I admitted who I have a crush on, but Val _does_ like you!"

"Really?"

She nodded. "Oh hey, speaking of my crush... you remember Trevor Grant-Schultz, my co-worker at Nasty Burger, right?" I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could answer, she continued, "He's 16 and totally hot, and I was thinking of asking him out. Maybe we could double-date?"

"Uh, well..." Natasha started giving me sad puppy-dog eyes. "Alright, but only if Valerie and this Trevor guy agree to go out with us." At that very instant, her face lit up.

* * *

**A/N: Some of this dialogue look familiar? Yep, taken straight from the Danny Phantom episode, Flirting With Disaster. Some of it is what would've happened in that episode if my OCs really had been there, some of it is what happened during the off-screen time. But I will be skipping around a lot or this fic could drag on longer than I have time to continue writing it. ^^;**


	5. Dude, Where's My Taco?

Third Person

"Danny, I gotta tell you something!" Natasha said as she phased into Danny's room.

Danny turned around and said, "Tasha, what are you doing in here? Can't you see I'm changing?"

"First, I'm standing," replied Natasha. "And second... well, your shirt is in your hands and not on your body. This can only mean one thing: one of the voices in your head told you to take off all your clothes for a full-body search for anything suspicious."

"I do _not _have_—_"

"I was kidding! What's the big deal, anyway? I've known you since I was almost 4, I think we've seen everything by now."

"Fine, you can stay, but would it kill you to knock?" Danny said hesitantly as he pulled his head through his shirt. "Anyway, what did you need to tell me?"

"Trevor said yes! What about Val?"

"She said yes too!"

"Danny?" Jack Fenton's voice called from downstairs. "I heard other voices up there, was there a ghost involved?"

"Gotta go," Natasha said as she phased out of Danny's room and back into her own.

_At The Diner_

Danny and Trevor were the first to show up for the date. When they saw each other, they briefly looked at each other and looked away. After a long pause of silence, Trevor said, "Yo." Danny looked up at him again. "Yeah, you. Sup."

"Uh... sup?" Danny replied, somewhat confused. He'd seen Trevor around, but wasn't expecting a conversation to start between them while waiting for the girls. Actually, he would've at least expected Natasha to have arrived. Then again, especially since Valerie hasn't arrived yet, at least he wasn't a third wheel.

"Nothin'," Trevor replied coolly. He eyed Danny up and down trying to match a name with his face before saying, "The name's Trevor, by the way. You're Andy, right?"

"It's Danny, actually," Danny corrected him.

"You know, Danny, you and I have a lot in common," Trevor said.

"Like what?" Danny asked skeptically.

"Well, for one, we're both dating one of my co-workers."

"Anything else?"

"Actually, that's all I've got for now..."

After about 15 minutes of chatting, the girls finally walked in. Valerie looked no different than usual, but Natasha wore her hair down and wavy.

"Sorry we're late," Valerie said.

"Val was curling my hair," Natasha added, then ran her fingers through the subtle waves. "It... obviously didn't work out for long."

"Well, you look great," Trevor told Natasha.

"So do you, Val," Danny told Valerie.

"You look great too," Valerie told Danny.

At the same time, Natasha replied to Trevor, "Back at ya!"

"Table for four?" asked the waiter.

The four teens looked at each other and talked amongst themselves. Finally, when they came to a conclusion, Trevor turned to the waiter and said "Two tables for two, preferably near each other."

The waiter nodded and led them to their tables.

_Three-fourths of an hour later..._

Natasha peered over at Danny and Valerie's table. "You guys have your food already? I ordered a veggie taco over half an hour ago and it's still not here!"

"So Nat, you're a vegetarian?" Trevor asked. Natasha had hinted a few times before that she didn't eat meat, but Trevor wanted to confirm.

"Long story short, I grew up without a mom, my dad works 24/7, and I'm a terrible cook," Natasha explained. "I needed to have _something_ that didn't require cooking, and when I started going out to eat, I realized I didn't have a taste for meat."

"Ooh," Trevor said, slightly disappointed. "I ordered the steak, and I don't have a toothbrush on me. So I guess we'll have to save the kiss for next date."

Out of nowhere, the power went out. "Huh?" Danny asked.

"What's going on?" Valerie asked.

"I'll tell you what's going on," Trevor said. "The government's cutting off our electricity."

The waiter came back with candles. He placed two on Danny and Valerie's table, and another two on Trevor and Natasha's table.

Danny and Valerie smiled. "You know," said Valerie. "This is actually pretty nice."

"Not as nice as just being here with you," replied Danny. The two smiled and gazed into each other's eyes.

Meanwhile, at Trevor and Natasha's table, Trevor gazed into Natasha's eyes and agreed. "It _is_ pretty romantic, Natalie."

Natasha stared blankly at Trevor and said, "Dude, my name's Natasha."

* * *

**A/N: Yes, Trevor is bad with names. Then again, Natasha thought Technus's name is Technoid. So I guess there's one thing they have in common. XD**

**Please review, anyone? Maybe I sound a little desperate, but it'd be nice to know what people think of this story. ^^;  
**


	6. Lights, Carnival, Irking!

**A/N: Sorry this chapter sucks, I have a bit of writer's block. Not to mention an essay to write and some AP Bio homework to finish. ¬¬

* * *

**_At The Baseball Game_

Danny, Valerie, Trevor, and Natasha walked into the stadium.

"A baseball game?" Valerie asked Danny inquisitively.

"Heh, why not? Besides, there's nothing good out in the theaters," Danny replied.

"Trevor, save me a seat?" Natasha asked. "I'm gonna go irk the pretzel guy."

"I would, Nat, but I'll be irking the soda guy," Trevor replied.

"Now _what_ is Nat short for?"

"Natasha." Trevor sighed. "Would you let it go already?"

"I _did_; I was messing with you!" Natasha gave Trevor a friendly punch in the shoulder. "Danny, Val, can you two save our seats?"

"Sure thing, Nat!" replied Valerie.

Danny and Valerie walked up and took their seats. They chatted amongst themselves for some while before they remembered they were still there with Natasha and Trevor.

"Where's Natasha?" Danny asked.

"Or Trevor?" Valerie added.

Meanwhile, it turned out, two free tickets to the carnival were being given away to two lucky winners.

"Free tickets to the carnival?" Valerie asked as she looked up.

"Yeah..." said Danny. "It'd be awesome to win something like that."

Valerie smiled, but replied "Yeah, but what are the odds?" The two of them continued to observe the screen.

"We won!" they both exclaimed in excitement.

"Won what?" a voice came from behind. Valerie and Danny turned to see Natasha, the person who the voice belonged to, holding four pretzels and Trevor holding four sodas.

"We won tickets to the carnival!" exclaimed Valerie.

"Yay!" exclaimed Natasha as she hugged Valerie and the two jumped up and down.

Trevor turned to Danny and simply said, "Girls..." Danny simply raised an eyebrow as he observed. "Even when you're my age, dude, you still won't understand them," Trevor continued.

_At The Carnival_

"We won free tickets at the baseball game—you guys were there—but how'd you two get in?" asked Valerie.

"I know people," Trevor said with a smirk.

"Ticket salesman is your uncle?" Natasha guessed.

"How did you—?"

"Come _on_, you called him Uncle Steve."

"So, what should we do first?" asked Danny. The four teens paused and looked at each other.

"FERRIS WHEEL!" exclaimed Valerie.

"ARCADE!" exclaimed Danny.

"GRAVITRON!" exclaimed Natasha.

"ROLLER COASTER!" exclaimed Trevor.

"I'm gonna go irk the cotton candy guy..." said Natasha, as she walked away.

Trevor looked at Natasha and took in the view of her hair now reverted to its pin-straight state, then looked at Valerie and Danny. Briefly feeling like a third wheel, he said "I'm gonna go play carny games so I can win Nat a prize."

"Later," Danny and Valerie said at the same time.

By the time the two couples reunited, the sky had darkened and the four of them went on the ferris wheel. Valerie sat with Danny in one car of the ferris wheel, and Natasha sat with Trevor in another. As the ferris wheel went up, Natasha exclaimed "I think I can see my house from here!" It came to a sudden stop, where the four teens were facing a skyscraper. The lights turned on in such a manner that spelled out "DF + VG".

_Meanwhile..._

"Oh, of _course_ that's where the ferris wheel stops!" Sam exclaimed as she witnessed the date through her binoculars.


	7. Matchmaker Technoid, I mean, Technus

"Why wouldn't it?" Sam put down her binoculars and shifted her attention to Tucker and his staticy PDA. "Can you turn that thing down?"

"No! Ever since that fight with Technus, this thing goes staticy at the weirdest times..." Tucker said, holding up his PDA. Technus suddenly appeared on the screen of Tucker's PDA. "Oh no..." At that point, a heart appeared around Danny and Valerie's initials. "And now we know why; it's picking up Technus! Something in his new upgrade is making my PDA all wonky!"

"Like at the mall... and the lab... and the ferris wheel! He's pushing Danny and Valerie together!" exclaimed Sam. Tucker simply burst out laughing. "If you're done, we have to tell Danny."

"You wanna tell Danny that Technus is playing Matchmaker? How do you think he's gonna react to that?"

_The Next Day..._

Danny burst out laughing when they broke the news to him. "Are you done yet?" asked Sam.

"No," Danny replied, then continued laughing for a bit longer before saying, "Okay, now I'm done. You're telling me Technus is trying to hook me up? Come on!"

"Well, kudos to Technus for such a 'brilliant' plan," Natasha said. "I mean, you're more likely to expect this sort of thing from Cupid, and even then, you'd expect Cupid to shoot an arrow in your butt! Most would never expect 'master of all things electronic and beeping' to deal with matters of love. You should thank him later."

"Well, Tech—" started Tucker, but then he and Sam noticed Valerie behind a bush.

"Uh, technically... we just want you to be happy. If you like her, we'll just have to make space for her at our table," Sam covered. Her left eye started to twitch after that.

"She can take mine for today," said Natasha. She then lowered her voice as she said, "Just between the four of us, I'm cutting school today at lunch to meet up with Trevor." She raised her voice back to normal as she said "Later!" With that, she walked away.

"And I'm supposed to meet Valerie before class," said Danny before he too walked away.

Valerie approached Sam and Tucker, asking "Did you mean that?"

"Uh..." Sam said, then cleared her throat. "Yeah, sure. If Danny likes you and you like Danny, the least we can do is give you a chance!" At this instant, Valerie hugged her. "Human contact... crushing... Goth... indifference..."

_Meanwhile..._

Danny was walking to the school building, laughing to himself and saying, "Technus as Matchmaker... please!" He heard a noise and turned around. "It's... nothing. Sam was probably being paranoid." Valerie's suit then hovered behind Danny holding a gun. He turned around again to see the suit and gasped. The suit loaded the gun and aimed it at Danny. "...But it doesn't mean she's not right. Valerie's not in there, is she?"

"No, she's not," replied Technus, who now revealed himself to Danny as the one controlling Valerie's suit. "She's over there, in full view." He pointed over to Valerie, who noticed Danny and waved. Danny waved back, then Technus told him, "You should run now." With that, Danny started running.

As he passed by Valerie, she said, "Hey Danny, Sam and I just had the _greatest_ conversation, and..." She took in a full view of Danny being chased by her suit and she gasped. "That's my suit! And it's after Danny!" She frantically ran off and emptied her backpack saying, "Oh please, _please_ let there be something in here I can use!"

"You _were_ pushing me and Valerie together!" Danny exclaimed to Technus.

"You're welcome!" Danny stopped running and was about to go ghost, but Technus reminded him, "Secret identity, remember?"

This eventually ended with Danny finding a safe place to go ghost and destroying Valerie's suit; seeing how she wasn't in there, why hold back?

* * *

**A/N: This chapter was a pain in the ass to write, I just _had _to end it here. Seriously, I'm just summarizing a scene from Flirting With Disaster, except with some lines added/changed due to OC insertion. I'll go back to the switching POVs after a couple more chapters of this crud.**


	8. Awkward Talks

_Later, In Danny's Room..._

"...But first, we've gotta get rid of this virus called Technus," Danny said as he got up from his bed and started to pace.

"Danny!" Jack said as he poked his head into Danny's room. "Word on the street is you've got yourself a girlfriend!"

Natasha raised her right hand and proclaimed, "I didn't say anything!" With that, she rushed out.

"Well, that was easy," muttered Jack. He then said, "Sam, Tucker, can you two leave so I can have an awkward father-son chat with my son?"

"Gone and gone," Tucker and Sam said simultaneously as they left the room.

"Does it have to be awkward?" Danny asked as he and Jack sat at the dining table with bowls of ice cream.

* * *

_Meanwhile, next door…_

"Is this gonna be an awkward father-daughter conversation?" Natasha asked.

"Probably, especially because I'm not sure what's going on with your life these days," replied her father. He glanced up and down within range of his view. "You're not shoveling down chocolate ice cream again, are you?"

"Of course not, Dad," Natasha replied innocently. "It's just a special effect on the webcam." She pressed a few buttons to make the image on her father's screen ripple and cycle through the colors of the rainbow. While her father stared with a blank expression on his face, Natasha ran back into the kitchen and put the carton of ice cream in the freezer. When she returned, she pressed buttons and the image returned to normal. "See?"

"I don't remember any such effect… Actually, I didn't know that webcam had any effects…"

"That's because you're old!" Natasha said in a singsong voice.

"Kid's got a point, Robbie," a female voice said off-screen.

"Not the time, _Barbie_… and Nat, you're embarrassing me in front of my co-workers."

"Why do you care about _my_ opinion, Robert?" the woman asked, a smirk spreading across her face as it came into view on Natasha's end.

"Barbara, I have a reputation…" Robert said through gritted teeth.

"You're right, Dad, this _was_ an awkward father-daughter conversation," Natasha said as she shut off her webcam.

**(A/N: I originally wanted this to be a touching, sentimental moment, but with the conversation being via webcam, I found this to be more entertaining. Plus, I suck at being touching and sentimental…)

* * *

**

_Meanwhile, in an apartment far, far—*gets hit* okay, it's not all that far…_

"Hey, Trevor, got time for an awkward buddy-buddy conversation?" asked a dark-brown haired 16-year-old with green streaks in his hair and piercing yellow eyes.

"Bryan, I told you not to do that!" Trevor exclaimed as he gave his friend a wide-eyed look.

"This isn't about me! It's about _you_… and that… 14-year-old co-worker of yours!"

"So I hit it off with Nat, what's the big deal?"

"Remember that promise you made two years ago? The one where you said you'd never date another 14-year-old again? Does _that_ ring a bell?"

"I'll ring _your_ bell if you don't shut it!"

"Fine, I'm just saying, you and Natalie—"

"It's Natasha…"

"You and _Natasha_ are spending an awful lot of time together," Bryan told Trevor. "And I _know_ you don't spend this much time with your other co-workers."

Trevor sighed. "I dunno, man, I thought she would be just another girl in her early teens stuck with a deadbeat job with her only consolation being a crush on me."

"So what, pretty boy, you like her because she doesn't fall for your charm?"

"I like her because I can talk to her and I can relate to her. She's not drop-dead gorgeous, but she _is_ fun and full of life. But the fact that she isn't nervous around me, well, that just makes things less awkward."

"That's cool, man," Bryan said nonchalantly. "However, she's gotta have _some_ hidden agenda up her sleeves…"

"Yeah, yeah, Shelly Parker seemed like the one for you, but it turned out she had some hidden agenda."

"Dang, we're sitting around, shoving down chips and root beer, talking about girls. What's happened to us over the past 10 years?"


End file.
